Wheels for floor standing speakers

My Speakers did outweigh me until 1 1/2 years of covid eating and drinking solved that problem. 

I move my speakers out from the walls to my marked spots when
I listen seriously. Why someone asked? Dogs, people and livability
would be my reasons. 

I have 5' casters with blue nylon? wheels. Over carpet and on a slab.
No issues to my ears but I listen low these days.

Wheels are must with big boy speakers. 

“Jgreen19, do tell us how you like your new Sopra's and how they compare to the Moabs. Best of luck with them”

   Ok, I’m about to hijack my own thread with this answer… here it goes… first, here’s a list of my gear…

Focal Sopra 3s
Pair of REL G1 MK II (subs)
Linear Tube Audio UltraLinear Integrated 
Denafrips Terminator DAC
Roon Nucleus (connected to Denafrips via USB)
Marantz SA 8005 SACD/CD Player
Rega P3 Turntable on top of IsoAcoustics Pucks
Schiit Mani Phono Stage
Schiit Loki EQ
Puritan PSM 136 Power Conditioner
Black Cat Coppertone Interconnects, Speaker Cables, and USB Cable
Black Cat Digit-75 MKII SPDIF Cable 
Archon Blue Power Cables 
Puritan Power Cable (From Puritan Conditioner to wall)
Quadraspire Rack
Room is 25ft long by 17ft wide. 9ft ceilings. Floor to ceiling bass traps in every corner. Absorption on walls, diffusion on ceiling. Room is very well treated by hired acoustician. 

…. First response when I hooked up my Sopra 3s was “YES!!”
…. Second response was “Damn, the Tekton Moab’s are an incredible value!!!”

So, do I like the Focals better? The answer is yes…. But I don’t like them 5 times better as the price would indicate…. Not even 2 times better. But yes, I am happier with them. Biggest differences are upper end detail and clarity, and a much larger sweet spot (left to right AND top to bottom). The Moab’s are very directional… not a bad thing, you just have to take your time getting your sweet spot.  My Moab’s do NOT have the berilium teeeter… I wonder if the comparison would be a little more fair if they did.  The Sopras just sound a little more refined overall.  It’s kind of like sitting in a Mercedes.  Everything just sounds and feels right.  I also don’t find them as bright or fatiguing as some Agoners do. They have a lot of detail but are much less fatiguing to me than B&Ws. I find the Moab’s to be the opposite of fatiguing. And don’t get me wrong, the Moab’s are not “dull” at all. They have great upper register detail but just seemed slightly veiled to me in comparison to the Sopras. That’s why I wonder if the BE tweeter would be a good upgrade for them.  But with their stock soft some tweeter you could listen all day and never get tired.    As far as midrange goes, it’s a much closer battle. This is where the Tekton shines for me. Vocals sound great on Moab’s. You will hear more lip smack and saliva through the Sopras… a little more audiophile sheen, but some might not want that level of detail…. Some might find it distracting and actually might prefer the slightly warmer sounding vocals on the Moab’s.    As far as bass goes, the Moab’s offer quite a lot of slam for the buck. To me the Sopras are a little tighter and faster.  Again, more refined.  Also, the Sopras are less efficient which has caused some issues. I’m trading in my LTA UL for an LTA 40Zi as I need more power for the Sopras. The UL works very well but if you listen to Classical music with extreme dynamic range, you’ll need more power for Sopras than the Moab’s.    And lastly, the Focals win aesthetically by a landslide. I’m not a hater of Tekton aesthetics like some Agoners but the Focals are just beautiful. They ooze class!
   So where does this upgrade leave me now??? Down the rabbit hole of more upgrades of course!!! I’m upgrading my Rega P3 to a P10. Trading up the schiit mani to a Simaudio Moon 310LP phono stage. Just ordered a PS Audio SACD Transport with hopes that the I2S will play DSD Raw to the Denafrips. Also ordered a slew of Townshend stuff… speaker and sub decoupling platforms, rack foot corner decouplers and a loom of Fractal cables.    So then I’m looking at an MSRP system close to 10x the price of my now wife’s system consisting of the Moab’s and the NAD M33. I’m fortunate enough to be able to afford this stuff (which I’m buying mostly used)… but a pair of Moab’s with a powerful all in one integrated for under 10K??? If I wasn’t addicted to the hobby and I just wanted a killer simple system… that would be hard to beat. And FYI, one of my best friends has Double Impacts with the NAD M10. Total for his set up was only 6K and sounds incredible! Anyway, those are my thoughts… very happy with where my system is now.. no regrets. 

Mozartfan, I beg to differ. Any enclosure a woofer is in needs to be rigid and heavy to prevent resonance and distortion. A subwoofer should be even heavier. My speakers weigh 200 lb. My subwoofers weight 200 lb
By buddies Magico S7's weigh 300lb. I doubt our OP is going to be carrying a Moab on his shoulder.

Jgreen19, do tell us how you like your new Sopra's and how they compare to the Moabs. Best of luck with them 🥳

At 135lbs/each and almost 6' tall I would use a 2-wheeler.

DeKay

asvjerry2,222 posts05-26-2021 11:11pmI avoid speakers that outweigh me....;)

I avoid anything over 60 lbs. 
Bigger is not always better. More often not. 

For this reason I would never ever consider any speaker over say,,,60 lbs TOPs, 50 lbs is more like it, Speakers do not need to weigh more than 50 lbs for high fidelity sound. 
Bigger is NOT always better. 
My Thors are like 60, right at the max weight.
HD sells castor wheels
But why add wheels, If you need to move them, buy a  cheap dolly at Harbor Freight

I’m just thinking out loud. I would look for casters that have higher quality bearings. I wouldn’t want casters that the wheels are wobbly. I would think that this will translate into unwanted vibration. On top of a quality bearing,I would also want something locking. Again,in the name of vibration.

I have never used casters on speakers. I have never used large unwieldy speakers. My smaller listening spaces dictate this. Like I said in my first sentence,I’m just thinking out loud. I do know Wilson uses casters on some of their models,so it is done by the high end market.

I avoid speakers that outweigh me....;)

@jgreen19

A thought on casters....keeping in mind that there's the whole issue of speakers on mechanical devices that allow motion, potential vibration sources....all that...
You might look into the casters that mount under tools, such as table saws and other shop equipment.  There are versions, both large and small in weight limits, that lift the item to be moved but allow one to restore it to 'hard contact' with the floor or whatever damping one employs there.
You step on small pedals, it lifts, you move, you set it down.
Heavy lifting avoided, no dragging about....even with carpets.

Again, just a thought. *S*

Awesome guys!! Thanks. Yea, they’re actually mainly gonna be my wife’s speakers now. I just got a killer deal on a pair of Sopra 3s. Was gonna sell the Moab’s, which I really like btw, and was sad to see them go, but then my wife mentioned that she’d love to have a HiFi setup in her piano studio. So…. I moved the Moab’s to her studio, ordered an NAD M33 all in one for her. She should be very happy. She has lots of rehearsals so needs to move things around a lot in her studio. I’m aware it’s not the best sonic solution to put wheels on speakers but it is what it is.  Hoping to get to a hardware store this week for a look at wheels. Thanks again for all the help everyone!

Just make sure two of them have brakes or the speakers will move. You have to be careful with the screws. MDF will strip easily. Predrill the holes and use self tapping screws. Fill the holes with thin cyanoacrylate glue like Satellite City and run the screws in with only 4 nm torque. This is permanent but at least the casters will not loosen. MDF can always be repaired but matching the finish will be tough. You will decrease the resale value in any event. 

Large caster wheels that are through bolted through the cabinets would work best i have a lot of large speakers and the biggest ones require that you have and use these types of accesories.

Better be careful. 

I have Tekton Moab’s that I need to move a lot

I’m still trying to wrap my head around why speakers need to be moved "a lot". Especially those that weigh 135 lbs
As Jason said, there are lots of choices but small wheels may not be a whole lot easier than the gliders you already have. And larger ones will lift the speaker above its optimum placement. Whatever you get, the speakers need to be pushed from the bottom rather than upper part of the speaker. That may be all wifey needs to do to move them on the gliders. She is probably pushing from the upper portion.
If nothing else, get a couple hand carts and paint them to match the décor and then place them in back of the speakers in the ready position

Home Depot sells a variety of different size casters. I have bought some for use on some of my floor-standers.

I had hospital cart casters on my workbench.  $100 for a pair 15 years ago, got two pair, two wheels each caster.I still have them - on my computer cart now.  Still work great.